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Eye exam?

My ds is 6 with mild-moderate asd. He is verbal, and almost up to grade level with his kindergarten class. He wears glasses. We had his first eye exam a year ago and he needed a mild prescription. He wears his glasses daily with no problem. At his exam a year ago, he wasn't fully able to name all of his letters and numbers and so they used this machine that scanned his eyes and created a prescription based on that scan. It was a very easy 20 minute appointment for him.

I took him on Friday for his yearly eye exam, and we had to go to a different place due to an insurance change. I enticed him into going b reminding him how easy it was last time, and promising that he could pick out new glasses while we were there. This new place didn't have the same machine but since he is able to name all of his letters and numbers now, we were hopeful that he would be able to complete the exam the old fashioned way. At first he did well, but he was fidgety and looking all around the room. So the dr. felt that she needed to dilate his pupils in order to stabilize his eyes a bit. Then she performed another full exam. Then she dilated them again and performed a third full exam. All because she was coming up with a drastically different prescription than he had last year. By the end of the third exam he was saying that he didn't know the letters, his head hurt, and he was done.

When she got to the part where they put different lenses in and see which ones are better, he consistently chose the same lenses in all three exams, even when they were in a different order and she called them by different numbers.

In the end, she gave us a new prescription. It was VERY different. The original one was .25 / .50 / 80 and .30 / .25 / 80. The new one is 1.50 / .75 / 90 and 1.75 / .75 / 90. The problem is, she felt so uncomfortable about giving us this new prescription that she wants him to come in bi-weekly until October so she can check how they are working for him. But... My insurance won't cover the repeat visits. And my son is terrified to go back because it was not a good experience. He has supplemental insurance, but this place doesn't accept it. And when I called a few places that do accept it to see if they would do the return visits, they said it was unnecessary and he will tell me if the lenses are too strong.

So... What would you do? What should I do? He can tell me if he has a headache but I don't know if he would or could tell me his vision is blurry. I do know that if I bring him back he will likely say whatever he thinks will get him out of there fastest. I've thought about using his supplemental insurance for a second eye exam at a place that has the scanning machine, but I can't seem to find any place that has one and also accepts Medicare.

This is really a hard one. If the doctor felt so uncomfortable about the prescription I don't know why she would write it. That right there just seems a little strange to me. But at the same time if he said the same lenses 3 times then it is probably right. I don't know about going back that many times though. that seems a little excessive. If he can tell you he has a headache and there seem to be more of them then I would take him back

I also think going back that much is a lot. I was always told that the kids will let you know if the prescription isn't right. Even if they don't verbalized it. So, if he isn't wanting to wear the glasses and giving you trouble about it. Especially since he had no problems wearing the old ones.

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